How to Start A Salon in Texas? 

Starting up a new business is always an exciting and time-consuming endeavor. Whether it’s hiring the right staff to make your business successful or finding the best location to attract customers, there are hundreds of things a business owner needs to do to get their business off the ground. While some necessities are common across the salon business world, some necessities become a little more state-specific.

To start a salon in Texas you’ll need to procure all of the right licenses, which would be a business license, a salon license, and perhaps an individual cosmetology license. After that, you’ll need to become familiar with the price of goods, real estate, and services for the state and city you’ll be working in. Lastly, you’ll need to plan for your Texas Customers.

Obtaining Necessary Documents

Before you can start imagining your salon on the corner of a Texas strip mall, you’ll need to obtain all of the licenses the state requires before starting the salon in Texas. While a business license and a salon license are necessary, an individual license might also be required depending on your role in the salon.

The Business Registration Process

In some states, figuring out the right structure for your business and getting it registered with the state can be a long, arduous, and taxing process. However, Texas prides itself on being a business-centric state, providing simple steps to setting up a business and even suggesting ways to help you outline how to start your business up. If you’re looking to start a salon in Texas, these steps can be very helpful to you.

Among these steps is registering your salon, which can feel like quite a daunting step. Is your salon going to be a corporation or a limited liability company? Will you have partners in your salon? All of these are important questions you need to consider when you go to register the name of your salon. Each type of business comes with different benefits and burdens, like tax burdens, so make sure to review carefully before you choose which one to implement.

While you must register your salon with the government, Texas is a nice state to set up a salon in because there is no extra license after registration is needed on the business side. The state has fairly few regulations put in place, so it is easier to get a business started. Instead, you’ll need to focus on getting a cosmetology license. The proper procedures can be found here.

The Cosmetology License

In virtually every state, a license is required to work in a barbershop or the area of cosmetology. That also goes for salons. After your business is registered, you’ll need to either have a cosmetology license yourself and/or have employees that have obtained their cosmetology licenses. 

The requirements for a cosmetology license can differ from state to state, but they usually consist of similar steps.

• • Attend Beauty School. Most, if not all, states will require you to attend a beauty school for a certain number of months so that you may learn how to do hair and other cosmetic procedures.
  • Apply for a license. After you have completed Beauty School, you’ll need to apply for a cosmetology license in the state you wish to work in.
  • Take the tests. Once you’ve applied, there are two tests you must pass to become a practicing beautician. Once you have passed these tests, your application should be approved, and you should be able to start taking clients.

It’s important to note that you can start your salon in Texas without having a cosmetology license. You just won’t be able to serve any customers yourself. However, even if you don’t plan to be an active stylist in your salon, it is still a good idea to get a cosmetology license, so you’ll better understand how your business works. ; Learn more about getting the license here.

Check out our tips for running a successful salon HERE!

Familiarity with Texas

If you were born and raised in Texas, these next steps will probably be easier for you. However, if you’re coming to Texas from out of state and want to open a salon, you’ll need to better understand the economy in Texas before you set up a shop.

Texas Real Estate

There are many great aspects about Texas that make it a great place to set up a salon. The weather is warm year-round, there are plenty of business-oriented people, and so on. However, one serious drain on Texas business owners is the taxes associated with real estate.

Texas has one of the highest real estate taxes in the country, being over 6%. Most Texans pay upward of $3,000 a year in real estate taxes. If you’re from Texas, perhaps you have already planned for this. However, if you don’t hail from the Lone Star State, these taxes can creep up on you and your budget without you knowing. This is why if you’re going to open up a salon in Texas, you’ll need to watch out for real estate tax.

Texas Cost of Goods

If you’re going to start a hair salon in Texas, you’ll need to be aware of the cost of goods you’ll be offering in your salon are, as well as the cost of materials you’ve used in interior decorating. Again, if you’re from Texas, the cost of products and such might not be hard for you to calculate. However, if you’re fairly new to the state, you’ll want to carefully check how much everything costs before you start and keep a careful record of it. 

The good news on this front is that Texas doesn’t have a state income tax. So, while the federal government might require a vast knowledge of your salon’s spending, Texas does not, giving you one less thing to worry about.

Setting Service Pricing

You need to know the area you’re going to open your salon in and what kind of customers you’re going to attract. If you’re opening your salon in small-town Texas, you’ll probably find yourself doing a lot more routine haircuts on men and more sustainable haircuts on women. If you’re in the city, you might find yourself with more variety.

The same goes for your cost of services. If you’re looking to charge a lot, you’ll want to position your salon near the more upscale parts of Texas while cheaper services will allow you to be more working-class friendly. However, the most important aspect of setting up your salon is knowing the people of Texas.

The People

Salons are fairly customer service oriented. Because it’s not a service that is necessary, salons put a lot of effort into interacting with their customers, so they’ll keep coming back. That is why knowing and understanding the people of Texas is one of the most important things you need to do if you want to open a salon in the state. If you’re able to understand the people and appeal to them, you’re sure to open a salon that will be standing for a long time.

What’s equally important is that your stylists understand them also and can relate to them. You won’t be able to interact with every customer that comes into your salon, so having well-trained staff will be one of your greatest assets

Related Questions

Where is the best place in Texas to open a salon?

The truth is, there is no one select place in Texas that’s better to open a salon in than the other. Lots of places need good salons or at least another salon option. It also depends on how you prefer to run a business. If you like it when there’s not a lot of competition for customers, open your salon in a smaller city or town where they might not have a salon.

On the flip side, if you want to be competitive but just fear that you don’t have the capital to make it in the big city, you can try to open your salon in an area that has just started to see some growth. If you get into the game early enough, you just might be able to establish yourself somewhere that will prove to be very lucrative.

What other information does Texas recommend you have before opening a business?

Because there is such a strong culture of business in Texas, the government offers some advice fairly regularly on how you can prepare to run a business in the state. One of their recommendations is putting together a complete business plan showing what you hope to do and where you plan the salon to be within the next five years or so. 

Another recommendation from the government of Texas is that you understand the rights and restrictions of employing workers within the state. These laws can be hefty and complex, but they also are important to know. Not knowing what rights are guaranteed to your employees is sure to lead you into situations and lawsuits that you would rather avoid. Learn more about employment laws here.